Released August 31st 2021 // 328 pages
 
Tied to the Wind portrays a young girl’s attempts to tether herself to a life that keeps becoming unfixed, each time her family moves from Ireland to Southern Africa and back again. Her nomadic childhood triggers a sense of destabilisation, exacerbated by alcoholism, racism, war and the conflicts of complicit colonial privilege. Interwoven into the narrative are the puzzle pieces of a fateful decision to undertake a skydive, despite her fear of heights. These are the pieces with which to assemble a sense of self.
 
Praise for Tied to the Wind:
 
Tied to the Wind is a book of intense sensations, and kaleidoscopic atmosphere. I could almost feel its heat, smell its exotic fragrances. Beautiful and transporting.
   — Sara Baume, A Line Made by Walking
 
I loved Afric McGlinchey’s lyrical and haunting memoir. Simultaneously intimate and epic, McGlinchey’s search for belonging voyages the reader through a sequence of unforgettable landscapes, braiding beauty and challenge into a book that lingers long in the reader’s heart.
   — Grace Wells, When God Has Been Called Away to Greater Things
 
The hugely attractive and magical power of Afric McGlinchey's writing is found in the beautiful clarity of her storytelling, highlighting the intensity of formative years. Served up like postcards, this narrative cuts to the marrow of a family torn in all directions by culture, career and geographical location. Tied to the Wind is a mighty piece of work: powerful, insightful and fascinating – absolutely wonderful.
   — Cónal Creedon, Second City
 
Exquisite – a beautifully-written, lyrical charm.
   –– Paul McMahon, The Pups in the Bog
 
Afric McGlinchey’s long-form debut steals beguilingly across the spiderweb between poetry, memoir and novel, offering an exquisitely rendered narrative of a young, hurting, growing life. Lush, sensitive, harrowing, gloriously written. 
   — Mia Gallagher, Beautiful Pictures of the Lost Homeland
 
I loved the book. Searingly beautiful prose.
   — William Wall, Alice Falling
 
Waves of memorable images, where love is challenged, and home is ever in question. Where to be, how to be and how to love are the kinds of questions Tied to the Wind asks; it's a courageous and moving piece of work.
   — Paul Perry, The Garden
 
Afric McGlinchey is a multi-award-winning poet from West Cork, Ireland. Her collections are The lucky star of hidden things and Ghost of the Fisher Cat, (Salmon Poetry), both with Italian translations published by L’Arcolaio. A surrealist pamphlet, Invisible Insane (SurVision) appeared in 2019. Her most recent publication is Tied to the Wind, a hybrid childhood memoir, published by Broken Sleep Books.